NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - GEORGIA TECH VS KANSAS

March 17, 2022

Nell Fortner

Lorela Cubaj

Sarah Bates

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Media Conference

Q. Are you going to defend their big?

LORELA CUBAJ: I think, Kansas is a pretty good team. I guess, we pretty much match up well with them, of course, Nerea Hermosa is going to have the big girl first. But, yeah, I think we match up pretty well, and it's going to be a really good game. Can't wait to play. Really thankful for the opportunity so.

Q. Have you noticed anything already, just in your travels to get here, and whether, it's the March Madness sign or anything that shows that, you know, it's going to be better and change is on the way for the women's tournament to be on equal ground? And how much do you appreciate some of the teams that spoke out last year in doing so?

LORELA CUBAJ: Definitely. I think, we really appreciate, of course, the progress that has been done in order to make us equal as the men's counterpart. And of course, we can also see, like, it's just like the little things, like the name March Madness. And, we just, like, are really thankful for especially, for the teams that last year spoke and made a big impact on the issue. And we, definitely, can see the little changes that are going to make us, like, progress every single year. And, hopefully, it just keeps getting better and better.

Q. What are some of those little changes? And Sarah, have you peeked in the swag bag or any of the anything that you've seen already I guess?

SARAH BATES: For me, the biggest thing was being March Madness because you always want to be apart of March Madness. And, as women, they never said that it was March Madness. So, finally, being apart of that bracket and being able to do that, I think, is what's the biggest thing in my eyes. But, just in general, I mean, we're here to play basketball, and we just want equal opportunities. And I think, you know, especially, going to the hotel and being around Georgia Tech, they did a great job of just welcoming us here to the bay and showing us that we're here for a basketball tournament and for a chance to win a tourney.

Q. How are you feeling right now?

SARAH BATES: I feel great, actually. And, I think, we all feel just great and excited to play. It's a new season, and we're not worried about being tired. We're just worried about going out and competing, and I just think we just have a really great shot of showing what we're capable of, and I'm excited to start this with my girls.

LORELA CUBAJ: Definitely, the same. I think she said everything that I had in my mind, so, yeah.

Q. Tara VanDerveer is hoping it catches on through the women's tournament, through the men's tournament, maybe you two might have a thought on that.

SARAH BATES: For me, my job is to be a shooter and to make as many threes as possible, so I'm planning on doing that anyways. But if it's to help the efforts in Ukraine as well, that's just another motivation to make more threes, and, I think, that's awesome what she's doing, and I hope other people are on board and willing to shoot more threes, so we can get more money out there.

LORELA CUBAJ: Yeah. I think it's a beautiful initiative. It's really like, as basketball players, we have and just, in general, basketball teams, we need to just bring awareness to the issues that's going on in the world right now. And we have a really big one right in front of our eyes, and just the fact that she can like, the Stanford coach came up with this initiative, I think it's beautiful. And I hope as many teams just catch up on that.

Q. You got four players in double figures - does that give you guys an advantage that you've got a balanced offense?

SARAH BATES: I think it does, and, I think, we just have a lot of great players on our team that can do a lot of different things. And, I think, when we play to our full potential that's pretty hard to guard. And, I think, as a team, we just need to focus in on what we do best and go toward those things. And we have people who can shoot. We have people who can drive. We have posts who are some of the best posts in the country. So I just think, if we stick to what we do best, then we should be fine.

Q. How confident are you guys moving into this tournament?

LORELA CUBAJ: I think, we are pretty confident. At the end of the day, it was a pretty challenging year for us as well, but, I think, we just came up with like solutions. And everybody who needed to step up, like, pretty much, stepped up. So I just think that right now it's all about us, and it's all about like playing together, and I just feel like we can do it. I'm pretty confident in that, and I hope everybody is confident in that, so, yeah.

SARAH BATES: I am.

Q. Does the win over UConn give you confidence going into this tourney?

LORELA CUBAJ: Pretty much, yes. It was a huge confidence booster, especially, back in December. I think, that's what, kind of, like, helped us kick off with the season. And we just got to, like, just learn from every single thing and every single game that we played and give it all. It was a really big game and gave us huge confidence. We just have to go out and play.

SARAH BATES: I agree. I think we've had a couple of challenging games this season, and we've had some good wins, and every team goes through an up and down throughout the season. But we've played our best basketball this year, and I really think that, if we just go out and play like we know how to play, that we can a big run in this tournament. Everyone has seen what we can do. We were ranked 11 for awhile, and we were ranked in the top 25, even after some losses. People know our potential, and we know exactly what we can do, and we're just going to go out there and do it.

Q. Will you encourage your coach to join in on this campaign with Tara if she hasn't already talked to Tara about it?

SARAH BATES: Yeah. I would definitely encourage it, and I know Coach Nell is an amazing person, and I know whatever decision she makes with moving forward with these kind of things would be, you know, for the best. And I just know that she's, usually, willing to back up important people on things like this. And I'm sure she would be willing to, you know, do something like that with Tara.

LORELA CUBAJ: I agree. I just feel like she's going to definitely speak on issues. She was pretty vocal, and I'm 100% sure that she will, definitely, like, join the Stanford coach and, you know, bring the initiative to life, I guess.

Q. Lorela, you and Hermosa have been pretty successful running the high low throughout the year. I imagine that's something you guys are looking to get going coming into in game?

LORELA CUBAJ: Definitely. I think it's probably one of our best, I guess, weapons, if I can call it like that. But yeah, pretty much, we're trying to use that as much as we can, and, I, think it has worked pretty well throughout the year, and we will see.

SARAH BATES: I think it will work out. Lo's one of the best players in the country, and Nerea. So I think it will be great.

Q. Can you estimate how many times you've been at Maples as a broadcaster or a coach? And the quick follow up is: What do you think about the venue?

COACH FORTNER: Well, I'm answer that part. I love the venue. I've always been impressed with it. The floor is really super nice. Athletes love the floor. It's kind of bouncy, so good for the legs. But, yeah, it's a really nice venue. It's an iconic venue. And I don't know how many times I've been here. I've been here many times practicing with the national team, whether I was an assistant with Tara, or whether we brought our team when I was the head coach of the national team.

I was thinking about this, the last time I was in this venue could have been 2017 or 2018, calling a volleyball match with Paul Sunderland. Took a picture with Tara and Amy while I was here. They were at the game, at the match. And, I think, that was the last time I was here, yeah.

Q. Have you seen her yet? Have you talked to her? Are you going to jump right in on this, and, maybe, reflect a little bit on your time over there?

COACH FORTNER: I have not seen Tara yet. I know I will, maybe, later today. But I just heard about that on the bus ride over. Someone handed me a phone and it showed what they had put on twitter. So, absolutely, I'll jump on that. There's not a doubt. There's no question about it. And right when I read it, I said, I'm in. That was a phenomenal trip over there. And it was an eye-opening trip in a lot of ways. There was several stories that I could go into. We don't have enough time. But it was really an interesting trip, an educational trip, along with a good basketball trip. I'm in.

Q. Lorela Cubaj, what makes her such a good defender?

COACH FORTNER: Lo is a 6'4", high motor, athletic basketball player. And high motor at 6'4" is not the norm, you know? But she has a motor like a 5'7" point guard. And, so, that changes how she does things. It changes the player that she has become. She's the hardest working player on the floor. She has energy the entire practice and has it in the game. And she's just, energy wise, unlike any player, really, I think I've ever coached. I've coached a lot of really good players, but it's the energy part of that, the high motor part of that that is difference making for her along with her athleticism.

Q. When they came back to practice, did you notice them maybe a little bit more refreshed in how they finished the season?

COACH FORTNER: Absolutely. I mean, when you get a few days off, and you get to regroup, and just kind of be a normal college kid and just kind of catch your breath and recharge your battery a little bit, it's absolutely difference making. And, I think, to refocus a little bit because, now, you're going into a new season, and it's one that's exciting. It's one that's extremely fun and challenging. And this is a team that, now, is going to their second NCAA tournament. So, you know, it's just it's an opportunity for them to see, you know, what they can do in this tournament, what we can do, and they're excited about it.

Q. How do you want to see this game officiated, or is that going to be the key, or you just don't want to put them to the line a lot?

COACH FORTNER: Yeah. We, definitely, don't want to put them to the line a lot. They present a big challenge in that regard because they like to get downhill. They like to score points in the paint the majority of the time. So it puts a lot of pressure on your defense because, you know, whether that's one on one basketball, whether that's having to really negotiate a lot of screens to keep the ball out of the paint, it's hard. It's a really tough offensive scheme to guard. So we're going to have to be really smart defenders and keep ourselves out of foul trouble and try to keep the ball out of the paint. So it will be a tremendous challenge for us, but we'll be ready for it.

Q. Nell, how much did you appreciate some of the teams being outspoken a year ago on equity? Have you noticed anything just in your short time so far? Are you noticing some changes already that might be a sign of good things to come?

COACH FORTNER: The only change that I've noticed, so far, is the March madness and, you know, it's something that over the years, even when I was doing television, I was like, why are we not saying March Madness? Why don't we have it in the background? What is the deal? And it was, like, something that was never really explained to us. It just didn't happen. So it's so exciting to finally see it associated with our tournament too. But that's the only thing I've seen so far. I haven't experienced anything different, anything else different.

Q. Now, that your team has had a little bit of time off coming back with some renewed energy, do you think everyone is going to see a team that's better than where you were seeded?

COACH FORTNER: Well, I sure hope so. That's the hope, and that's what we're striving for. It's exciting. You're wanting to put your best foot forward, and, hopefully, we've put our team in a position to put their best foot forward. We needed rest. We needed rejuvenation. We needed reps at doing certain things better, and that's what we did. So, hopefully, we'll see that come to fruition tomorrow night.

Q. Lorela against their big girl, and is that one of the big keys? Who is going to win that battle?

COACH FORTNER: Yeah. I think, you'll see really good post players on the floor tomorrow night. They have 6'6", 6'3". We have 6'5", 6'4". It's going to be a really interesting battle, and, I think, it is going to be interesting to see how it's officiated. You know, we're probably going to see three officials that have not officiated us all year long, and they probably haven't officiated Kansas all year long. So it will be interesting to see how the game starts and what it's going to play out to be. But, I think, you're going to see some really good play inside around the rim. I think you're going to see good play by big kids away from the rim. So, you know, the game of women's basketball is evolving, and we are different than we were 10 years ago. And you're going to see that versatility, I think, tomorrow.

Q. What were your observations of Stanford's run a year ago?

COACH FORTNER: Yeah. Incredible. That was really incredible. You know, I have so much respect for Tara and how she runs her program and how she develops her players and gets the job done here at Stanford year in and year out. So I'm not surprised in that regard. Especially, when you start breaking down their players. Haley Jones is, absolutely, one of my favorite players in the women's game. She's just so versatile, and you can do so much through her. You can run it to her or run it through her, and she's just such a difference maker on the floor. And I thought she was out in full force last year in the NCAA tournament. And then, they have great height and the ability to stretch the floor at all five spots. So a very difficult team to guard, and they run their offense very well. They're efficient, and Tara's, probably, just a master at offensive ingenuity. So I'm not surprised at what they did, and, I think, they just you know, the COVID year was interesting in the fact that everyone was forced to stay in a bubble, so it forced, probably, stronger team chemistry. It forced, you know, just the overall togetherness and bonding of a team all year long, and, I think, everybody probably reaped benefits. We did. We reaped benefits from it. So, in the long term, it benefitted them and a lot of other teams too. So I'm not surprised at their run.

Q. Strautmane had some ups and downs during the season, and I imagine she may be one of the keys for this game?

COACH FORTNER: She's such a versatile player because she can stretch the floor. We're fortunate, right now, that we've got more players that we can stretch the floor with, but Diggy, she's versatile from at the rim and out to the three point line. So we can use her in a variety of ways, and so, she's important. Very important to what we did offensively. She had an injury in the middle of the season, took her a little while to come back from it, and we kind of hit a rough spot while she wasn't on the floor. But she's back in full force, right now, and we're happy about that.

Q. Is any player on your team, who was not highly touted going into the year, that has come a long way and really contributed heavily?

COACH FORTNER: Yeah. You know, we've had players, a lot of players step up, and, I think, that, probably, maybe a couple of them stand out in my mind. Lili Love, who is a Kansas native. She probably has a little extra motivation in her game right now. But she's really developed. We worked hard with her to develop her game and to make her a more versatile player. And she's really had a nice year. And, then, Sarah Bates, who is a California kid, that is a really good, you know, three point shooter, but she's proven that she can do more than just shoot the three, so we're I think those two players have given us a nice, you know, given us more depth and the ability to do a few more things on the floor.